Combination lock and controller for side doors of box-cars



v F. H. WARD. COMBINATION LOCK AND CONTROLLER FOR SIDE DOORS 0F BOXCARS. APPLICATION FILED JUNE29, 1920.

1,3?9,495, Patented my 24,-, 19211.

INVENTOR v W; m

ATTORNEYS and 14, respectively, therein. A' door-15' stars arena"FRED';'HELLWARD; ,OF-W.ASHINGT01\T,;D1STRICT OF COLUMBIA.

GOMBINATIONRLOGK AND CONTLRGIJLER FOR SIDE DOORS OF BOX-CARS.

Specificationof Letters Patent.

Patentedltliay 2-1, 1921.

ApplicationvfiledJune 29;1920.. SerialNo. 392,767;

To all whom it may c0ncem Be it known that I,.F RED Hf. WARn, a citi-'zen of the United. States and agresident of Washington; in the Districtof Columbia, have invented certain new and usefullmprovements in aCombination Lockiand Con-v troller for Side Doors of BOX-OalS,' OIEwhich the following isa specification.

My invention relates to an improvement incar doors.

The object offthe invention isto provide an improvement of thischaracter in which the doors of the car areconstrained to correspondingmovement whereby when one of the doors is secured in desired positionthe other of saiddoors is automatically secured in correspondingposition and] in which manipulation of the doors-byan unauthorizedperson is effectively precluded. 7

Anotherobject .is to, provide a device of this character of simple anddurable"v construction reliable in operation and easy vand inexpensiveto manufacture.

Other objects jandjadvantages of the 1nvention reside uncertainnoveLfeatures of I construction,. combination and arrangement ofpartswhich willlbe hereinafter more fully described and particularlypointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings forming part of this specification and. in which:

Figure 1 isa plan viewwofmy improvement, the-car.-,being, shown. insection and broken away for the sake of illustration; and V F ig. 2 is adetail perspective view of the improvement and one of the car doors.

Referring to-the drawings it will be seen that :my inventioncontemplates a car, indicated generally at; 10, and including side walls11 and'12 having door: openings 13 is provided for -theopening13 and a.door 16 is provided forthe opening. 1 1. Both the doors-15 and 16faremounted for sliding movementvbut. in. opposite directions, the

door 15 being mounted to, slideto closed pended, from-theflstructure ofthe car in any well. known or conventional manner.

Controlling means "for the doors 1S pIOi vided;1and'consists :otatubularrod 17 closed atone end, as indicated at 18, and opened at the oppositeend;-as indicated at 19. The tubular rod 17 is arranged to extendtransversely of thecar, asshown in the drawlngs. The tubular rod issupported for sliding movement in a sleeve 20 depending from a-swivelbracket 21 which is in turn carried by the crossbar 22 secured to beamsB or: other suitable portions of the car structure. The beams B aresecured to or form part of the car structure and are arranged to extendlongitudinally of the car above the door openings. The cross bar 22extends between and is suitably secured to the beams. The sleeve 20-ofthe swivel bracket thus depends, below the cross bar and the rods 17 andassociated instrumentalitie's to be hereinafter fully described arethus'arranged below the cross bar and below the beams. Thesleeve 20embraces the periphery of the tubular rod 17 so as to slidably receivethe same. I

The closed end '18 ofthe tubular rod is provided with a preferablyintegral, vertically-disposed, eye 23. A horizontally disposed eye 24 iscarried by a shank25 which extends through the door structure as shownin Fig. 1. Suitable plates 26 cooperate with the door structure tosecure the shank in position. The eyes 23 and 24 are interengagedwhereby thetubular rod 17 is free to partake of relativeswingingmotionin a hori zontal plane with respect to the door 15.This-connectingmeans constituted by the eyes 23 and 241 and theassociated structure also provides for a small degree of lost motion ina vertical direction to occur between the tubular rod and the door 15.

A rod 27 is telescopically received in the opening of the tubular rod17, being fr'ee to partake of sliding motion in the opening of thetubular rod. The outer end of the rod 27 is provided with a verticallydisposed eye 28 preferably formed integral with the rod 27. This eye 28is interengaged with a horizontally disposed-eye 29 carried on the endof a shank 30 which extends through the structure of the door 16 and issecured in position by means of the spaced plate 31 or other suitablefastening means. Theconnection or connecting means afforded by theinterengaged eyes 28 and 29 permits the rod 27 to swing in a horizontalplane relative to the door 16 and also. provides for a small degree oflost motion in a general vertical direction.

, position shown in the same figure, it is necessary that both the doors15 and 16 be grasped and pushed or otherwise forced in oppositedirections. V7 hen the doors are so acted'upon they slide toward thedotted line position, the rod 27 sliding or telescop- "ing to a greaterextent within the tubular rod 17 and both'the rod 27 and the tubular rod17 swinging relative to the doors 16 and 15 swivel bracket 21 until thedoors are pulled open and all of the parts occupy the position shown indotted lines in Fig. 1.

It is to be noted that it is essential and is required that twooperators act together to open the doors and this in a large measureprecludes theftor any manipulation of o the doors by an unauthorizedperson as when one person endeavors to open the doors the push whlch heexerts upon one of the. doors due to the drag of the other door servesonly to tilt or cant the door upon which he isiacting and so increasesthe re- 7 sistance', that, it is practically an impossibility to effectanopening movement of the doors.

Another important feature resides in the fact that it is only necessaryto provide a single locking means in order to eiiect' a complete lockingaction of both doors and the locking action of a single means iseffectively transmitted by the controlling means to the other door.Moreover, this is true in any position in which it is desired to securethe door.

I claim:

1. In combination with a car having a dooropening in each of itsopposite side walls, oppositely sliding doors for said openings andlocking means for one of said doors, controlling means for said doorscomprising a tubular rod closed at one end, means for 'slidablysupporting the tubular rod from the roof of the ear including a sleeveembracing the rod and pivotal connection from the sleeve to the root,means for connecting the closed end of the tubular rod to one of saiddoors consisting of a horizontally disposed eye secured to the door anda vertically disposed eye carried by the closed end of said tubular rodand 'interengaged with the eye secured to the.

door, a rod telescopically received in the opening of the tubular rod,and means for the doors from the respectively, and carrying with it ther securing the rod to the other of said doors including a horizontallydisposed eye secured to said last-mentioned door and a verticallydisposed eyegcarried by th'eirocl and interengaged with the eye of saidlast mentioneddoor. V e

2. combination with a car having a door opening in'each of its oppositeside walls, oppositely sliding doors for said openings and lockingmeansfor one of said doors, controlling means forsaiddo'ors including a'tubular rod, means for slidably securing the tubular rod from the roofof the car, means for connecting oneend of the tubular rod to one ofsaid doors, whereby the tubular rod may partake of swinging V motionwith respect to said door in a hori zontal plane, a rod slidably andtelescopically, received insaid tubular rod, and

means forrconnectin'g the free end of said rod to the other of saiddoors whereby it is free to partake of relative horizontally swingingmotion with respect to said last mentioned door. I V I 7 3. Incombination with a car having a door opening in each of its oppos teside wallsand oppositelyjsli ding doors for said door openings,controlling means ior said doors'including telescopic rods,jmeans, forsupporting the outer otsalcl telescoplc rods from the roof ofthe car,and separate means for connecting the free end of each or" saidtelescopic rods to' the respective doors.

4. In a device of the character described 4 including oppositely slidingdoors, controlling means for said doors comprising atubular rod, meansfor slidably supporting said tubular rod, means for'connecting one endof said tubular rod to one of said doors,

.a rodslidably and telescopically received insaid'tubular rod, and meansfor connecting the free end of said rod with the other of said doors.

5. In a device of the including oppositely sliding doors, -controllingmeans for said doors, including telescopic rods, means for supportingsaid telescopie rods, and means for connecting the free end of each ofsaid telescopic rods to its respective door.

6. In a device of the character described including oppositely slidingdoors, controlling means for said doors including telescopic rods,and'means for connecting the vfree end of each of said telescopic rodsto its respective door.

7 Ina device of the character described character described includingoppositely sliding doors and locking means for one [of saiddoors,.controlling means for sald doors 1nclud1ng telescopic rods, meansfor supporting sa d telescopic rods, and means for connecting the freeend 7 of each of said telescopic rods to its respective door.

FRED HELL WAR-D.

